KESSEL, Joseph. Le Lion.
Paris, Gallimard, 1958.

In-8 (188 x 125 mm), 316 pp, (2) ff, covers and spine preserved.
Brown half morocco with corners, spine with sautéed faux-nerves, gilt author and title, gilt head.

An extremely rare first edition, here in large paper.
One of 100 copies on vellum pur fil.

When it was published, Le Lion, Joseph Kessel's emblematic masterpiece about the unique friendship between a little girl and a lion, was an immediate and resounding success. General de Gaulle himself sent the writer a congratulatory letter that has remained famous: "My dear Joseph Kessel, Le Lion is magnificent. It is perhaps the finest of your books...". The book has become one of the pillars of the Gallimard catalogue, and has since sold nearly five million copies.

Minimal rubbing to one corner of one cover and one corner, otherwise copy as new.